Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains

Day 1: The tour begins at 6 pm this evening in Barranquilla. Night in Barranquilla.  

Day 2: We’ll begin in the wetlands east of Barranquilla. After crossing the wide Magdalena River, we’ll stop at an extensive marsh where migrants from North America are common and mix with the more exotic Brown-throated Parakeet, Straight-billed Woodcreeper and Yellow-chinned Spinetail. The noisy Stripe-backed Wren is usually obvious, the omnipresent Red-crowned Woodpecker peeks from its holes in the palm trees, and the stunning Russet-throated Puffbird is sometimes seen in the open hunting large insects and lizards. 

After a few hours of birding in this mix of shrubs and wetlands, we’ll drive to the Isla Salamanca National Park for a short walk in the shade of the mangroves. This rich habitat always attracts interesting birds, including Bicolored Conebill, Prothonotary Warbler, and with some luck the stunning Pied Puffbird. 

By now it will be hot so we’ll retreat to our cool vehicle and drive toward Santa Marta and then Riohacha, stopping for lunch on the way. In the afternoon, just before arriving in Riohacha, we’ll explore a semi-arid part of the Los Flamencos National Park. The thorny and almost leafless vegetation here hosts an amazing selection of beautiful species. One of the most striking is the White-whiskered Spinetail, but the competition is stiff as other amazing birds occur as well, including Vermilion Cardinal, Orinocan Saltator, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Chestnut Piculet and Trinidad Euphonia. Night in Riohacha. 

Day 3: We’ll bird the thornscrub surrounding the village of Camarones, accompanied by our guide from the local Wayuu community. This is the most arid part of the Los Flamencos reserve and supports species we may still need, perhaps including the range restricted Tocuyo Sparrow, Slender-billed Tyrannulet (or Inezia), Rufous-vented Chachalaca or Buffy Hummingbird. 

In the afternoon we’ll drive toward the splendid Tayrona National Park, arriving early enough to relax in our lodge on the shore of the Caribbean Sea. In the late afternoon, we’ll offer a choice between more birding or perhaps a swim, if surf conditions allow, from a lovely white sand beach. Night near Palomino. 

Day 4: Tayrona is both beautiful and relaxing, and it’s great birding. We’ll spend the morning looking for Cocoa Woodcreeper, Lance-tailed Manakin, Southern Bentbill, White-chinned Sapphire, and White-necked Puffbird, among others. We even have a chance of finding the extremely rare and endangered Blue-billed Curassow. During our morning’s walk through the forests of the national park, we’ll also be looking for mammals, including Colombian Red Howler and a Tayrona specialty, Cotton-top Tamarin. 

After lunch we’ll drive towards the village of Minca in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. On the way, we’ll look especially for the restricted-range Black-backed Antshrike, but also Pale-eyed Pygmy-tyrant, Chestnut-capped Warbler, Panama Flycatcher, and Bicolored Wren.  With some luck we might even find a flock of Military Macaw, and the bright red morph of Red-tailed Squirrel would be a brilliant addition to our mammal list. Night above Minca. 

Day 5: We’ll bird all morning around the charming little village of Minca. Its location at the intersection of arid habitat, coffee plantation, and the first patches of humid forest helps explain why it holds so many interesting species. Our main targets will include Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Golden-winged Sparrow, Scaled Piculet, Rufous-and-white and Rufous-breasted Wrens, Swallow Tanager, Keel-billed Toucan and our first Santa Marta endemic, the Foliage-gleaner!  

We’ll have lunch at a countryside hotel where, after some great food and while we sip an after-lunch cup of Colombian coffee, we’ll be distracted by wonderful birds possibly including Steely-vented Hummingbird, White-vented Plumeleteer, Crimson-backed Tanager and Buff-throated Saltator coming to the feeders. When we run out of time at the feeders and on the hotel grounds, we’ll begin our drive toward the Mountain House Lodge. The last part of the road is rough and high-clearance four-wheel vehicles are necessary to reach the lodge. Night at Mountain House Lodge. 

Days 6-7: The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain massif that rises directly from the Caribbean up to about 18,700 feet. Around 30 range-restricted species occur in these mountains, and we have good chance of seeing more than 20 of them! There are also many endemic subspecies, reflecting colonization, then differentiation, from the main Andean chain. 

We’ll stay at Mountain House Lodge run by a local family. It’s a magical place where you can have a drink on the terrace overlooking a fantastic garden with a fine array of bird feeders and an impressive view of the Caribbean coast. Among others, we’ll be alert for Santa Marta Brush-Finch, Black-hooded Tanager, Crowned Woodnymph, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Black-chested Jay, and perhaps the star, the Santa Marta Blossomcrown.  

Away from the lodge we’ll use our 4x4 vehicles to visit higher elevations along the San Lorenzo ridge, the home of Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Warbler, Santa Marta Bush-tyrant, and Brown-rumped Tapaculo. In the mixed species flocks, we may find a few Black-cheeked Mountain-Tanager, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Rusty-headed Spinetail, and the handsome Black-capped Tyrannulet. We’ll also pay special attention to the hummingbirds as we have chance of seeing Mountain Velvetbreast, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Santa Marta Woodstar and the endemic subspecies of Tyrian Metaltail. 

At lower elevations, we might find the stunning White-tipped Quetzal not far away from Golden-breasted Fruiteater, as well as Santa Marta Tapaculo, White-lored Warbler, Black-hooded Thrush, and the superb Rusty-breasted Antpitta. Nights at Mountain House Lodge. 

Day 8: Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave our wonderful mountain home and drive back to Barranquilla. On the way, we’ll have a full morning to bird in the Santa Marta foothills, covered by patches of shade-grown coffee and rainforest, looking for any last species we may be missing. The trees will probably support boreal migrants, including the common Tennessee Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and perhaps rarer ones such as Golden-winged Warbler or Olive-sided Flycatcher. Among the resident species, we’ll have a great chance to find our last Santa Marta endemic, the Antbird, as well as Yellow-backed Oriole, Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush, and Spectacled Tyrannulet. We’ll arrive in Barranquilla in the late afternoon. Night in Barranquilla.  

Day 9: The tour concludes this morning in Barranquilla. 

2025 Narrative

 IN BRIEF: Is there a better way to escape the boreal winter than by spending a week in the tropics, enjoying the wonderful Caribbean food, staying in fantastic lodges, and seeing around 300 bird species?! Well, that’s what we did on our Santa Marta tour, and believe me… we really enjoyed it!

The Sierra Nevada Cordillera and the Guajira Peninsula are home to an amazing list of restricted-range species, and we had excellent views of (just to name a few…) White-whiskered Spinetail, Chestnut Piculet, Buffy Hummingbird, Orinocan Saltator, White-lored Warbler, Black-backed Antshrike and a long list of “Santa Marta” species, such as Santa Marta Blossomcrown, Antbird, Tapaculo, Foliage-gleaner, Woodstar and Brushfinch. In addition to these very local species, we also enjoyed encounters with the stunning Northern White-fringed Antwren, the lovely Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to fruit feeders, close view of Pied Puffbirds, the charismatic Russet-throated Puffbird, a beautiful male Golden-breasted Fruiteater, and many more interesting sightings. 

The 10 best birds/sightings of the trip, as selected by the group, were: Santa Marta Antbird, Dwarf Cuckoo, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Santa Marta Antpitta, Red-billed Scythebill, Santa Marta Tapaculo, Spectacled Tyrannulet and Barred Forest-Falcon!  

Besides birds we also enjoyed an endless list of butterflies and moths, nice reptiles including good views of Green Iguana, and a few mammals such as Colombian Red Howler, Santa Marta Yellow-fronted Capuchin at Tayrona and the extremely rarely seen Speckled Tree Rat!  This tour was also notable for the great accommodations, with amazing hummingbird feeders at Minca and Mountain House Lodge attracting dozens of these stunning and colorful birds. And last but not least, the meals were really fantastic, and we all enjoyed the tasty Caribbean food, especially the fried red snapper and garlic prawns with coconut rice!

 IN DETAIL: The group met in the evening for an introductory meeting, followed by our first delicious meal of Caribbean cuisine – what better introduction to the tour!  

For our first birding day we had an early departure to the Universidad Del Norte grounds for a quick stop to look for our first restricted-range species of the tour, the Chestnut-winged Chachalaca. The area is unfortunately threatened by recent construction, but we got excellent views of several chachalacas, as well as several groups of Brown-throated Parakeet, our first Russet-throated Puffbird, a Whooping Motmot and a few Saffron Finches. On our way out of the city, we stopped briefly along the Magdalena River, one of the most important Colombian rivers, finding two Northern Screamers standing in the floating vegetation, as well as a few Large-billed Terns, a pair of the cute Common Tody-Flycatchers, and a few Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures soaring close, together with dozens of migrant Northern Turkey Vultures. 

We then headed towards the agricultural fields and wetlands at Palermo for some early morning birding, enjoying the still “cool” temperatures. Palermo is a wonderful birding area, and we saw about 60 species of birds in less than two hours: lots of herons of several species, several shorebirds including two Least Sandpipers, a Solitary Sandpiper and both Yellowlegs, a beautiful Russet-throated Puffbirds perched close in the open, family groups of Stripe-backed Wrens, great looks at Yellow-chinned Spinetail, the splendid Pied Water-Tyrant, common Red-crowned Woodpeckers and even a pair Spot-breasted Woodpeckers, a fantastic Dwarf Cuckoo staying for a while atop a small tree, Bare-faced and Glossy Ibises side-by-side and so many more! We could have spent all day here, but several other birding spots were waiting for us during our drive towards Riohacha. 

On the way to Riohacha, we stopped for lunch by a scenic riverside. It was great to have lunch while watching Great-tailed and Carib Grackles, Common Black-Hawk, Green Kingfisher, Prothonotary Warbler and even a pair of Glaucous Tanagers! Mid-afternoon, we arrived at the village of Camarones where we met Johny, our local guide from the Wayuu community. Birding the dry shrubland along the old access road to the village, we found the beautiful Black-crested (Streak-fronted) Antshrike and a lovely male Northern White-fringed Antwren, the stunning White-whiskered Spinetail, a fantastic Straight-billed Woodcreeper foraging near the trail trail, a lovely male Trinidad Euphonia singing in the open, the fancy Bare-eyed Pigeon, and a Green-rumped Parrotlet perched close amongst others. In a nearby field, we also spotted a pair of Double-striped Thick-knees resting in the shade of short trees, as well as a beautiful Whistling Heron (very rare here), a Savanna Hawk, a few groups of Blue-crowned Parakeets, and even a Merlin flew by! To end the day nicely, we went to the estuary of a huge coastal lagoon, where amongst hundreds of Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns and Black Skimmers, we spotted a Least, a Common, two Caspian and a few Sandwich Terns, 31 Willets, a few Whimbrels, three American Oystercatchers, 25+ Semipalmated Sandpipers, and more! But the star of the evening was undoubtedly the sparkling Scarlet Ibis found together with a dozen White Ibis and two Roseate Spoonbills! We ended the day with a delicious dinner in Riohacha.

After a nice breakfast at Johny’s mom's house, we spent the whole next morning birding the dry scrubland and forest found on the Guajira Peninsula, enjoying great views of several restricted-range species like Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Tocuyo Sparrow, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Slender-billed Tyrannulet, Chestnut Piculet and Black-backed Antshrike! Other interesting species here included White-tipped Tyrannulet, Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Northern White-fringed Antwren, the recently split Ochre-lored Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, Orange-crowned Oriole and a fantastic Red-billed Scythebill! We wrapped up our morning at a local garden where the owner feeds birds, attracting the mega-beautiful Vermillion Cardinal, a few Orinocan Saltators, Black-faced Grassquits, Pileated Finches, Yellow Oriole, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Tropical Mockingbirds and even a Buffy Hummingbird! We then drove on to our very comfortable hotel just by the Caribbean Sea. We arrived for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful grilled Red Snapper and our choice of Lulo juice or Coconut Lemonade. 

When temperature dropped down (a bit) in the afternoon, we did some birding in a nearby patch of dry forest, where we found Thick-billed Euphonia, Crimson-backed Tanager, an immature male Lance-tailed Manakin (heard many more), a few Red-legged Honeycreepers, and a few Nearctic migrants including Yellow Warbler, Great-crested Flycatcher, Broad-winged Hawk, and Buff-breasted Wren (numerous by voice). We also had fantastic looks at a White-necked Puffbird perched in the open, and a superb Crane Hawk also gave great views. We couldn’t have ended the day better than with a succulent plate of garlic prawns and coconut rice (another Caribbean specialty!), and a peaceful night at our lovely accommodation.

After an early start the next morning, we reached the entrance of Tayrona NP where we met up with our local guide Danilso. The tall secondary growth forest here attracts lots of interesting species but the most common one, at least by voice, was Buff-breasted Wren. We saw a very long list of birds this morning including very good views of Black-crowned Antshrike, One-colored Becard, Bright-rumped Attila, Lance-tailed Manakin, a displaying White-chinned Sapphire, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Purple and Red-legged Honeycreepers side-by-side, Pale-bellied Hermit, a pair of White-bellied Antbirds, Scrub Greenlet, Panama Flycatcher and Hook-billed Kite. While standing in a clearing with a nice open view, we could see soaring raptors including a Black Hawk-Eagle, two Short-tailed Hawks, a King Vulture, a few wintering Broad-winged Hawks and even six Military Macaws flew by! To conclude this lovely morning at Tayrona, we scored nice scope views of a Great Potoo at its day roost! 

After lunch we headed towards Santa Marta, where we switched vehicles for three land-rovers, and started our drive up towards Minca and our countryside hotel where we arrived mid-afternoon. There, we enjoyed a relaxed afternoon, birding the terrace with feeders and the nearby grounds, finding the beautiful Chestnut-capped Warbler (a recent split from Rufous-capped Warbler), the electric-blue Swallow Tanager, a sparkling pair of Golden-winged Sparrows, no less than four Lineated Woodpeckers, a Plumbeous Kite, a Whooping Motmot coming to the feeder, Social and Rusty-margined Flycatchers side-by-side allowing easy comparison, a nice pair of Northern Tropical Pewees, and hundreds of Scarlet-fronted Parakeets flying towards their night roost. We also found quite a few North American migrants, such as Tennessee Warbler, American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler and Summer Tanager.

The next day, we spent the whole morning birding the upper part of Minca, mostly in shade grown coffee plantation and patches of dry forest. This habitat really attracts boreal migrants, and we found several North American birds coming here to spend the non-breeding season: Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Broad-winged Hawks and even one Chestnut-sided Warbler, in addition to the species seen the previous day! Of course, plenty of resident species were seen alongside these migrants, such as the lovely Black-headed Tanager, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Scaled Piculet, Black-chested Jay, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush and Keel-billed Toucan! We had a nice view of a few Military Macaws, a perched Gray-lined Hawk, a few White-vented Plumeleteers and even a Rosy Thrush-Tanager was heard in a coffee plantation! 

We also started our list of endemics of the Sierra Nevada cordillera, with many names starting with ‘Santa-Marta’ or ‘Sierra Nevada’, having fantastic views of a Santa-Marta Foliage-gleaner singing from an exposed perch, a pair of Santa-Marta Antbirds giving us an amazing show and offering fantastic views, our first Sierra Nevada Brushfinches and a Coppery Emerald offering great views while feeding on flowers at the roadside. 

After lunch, we began the drive towards Mountain House Lodge. On the way we made a nice birding stop in a patch of forest where we found our first White-lored Warbler, Santa Marta Brushfinches and a few White-throated Thrushes. But the best birds here were without a doubt the stunning male Golden-breasted Fruiteater that showed well for a while, and the cute Rusty-breasted Antpitta singing in the dense understory but staying still long enough to allow great scope views! After check-in, we enjoyed the lodge garden for the rest of the day, finding and amazing quantity of birds: impressive numbers of Lesser Violetears and Crowned Woodnymphs, but also Steely-vented Hummingbird and Brown Violetears, as well as two endemic hummingbirds: Santa Marta Blossomcrown and Santa Marta Woodstar. We had up to 17 Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to the fruit feeders, regularly joined by Pale-breasted Thrush, White-lined and Black-capped Tanagers, while White-sided and Rusty Flowerpiercers were feeding on the plentiful marmalade flowers! What an amazing beginning and wonderful introduction to the next birding days we would have in the Sierra Nevada! 

We had two full days to explore the different elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, looking for the endemic species living in this isolated range. On our first day, we mostly explored the upper part, leaving at 4:00am and driving by night from the lodge to the San Lorenzo ridge. Once there we had a field breakfast enjoying a spectacular view of the cordillera. Spending the whole morning in the patch of forest and chusquea bamboo, we found several Black-cheeked Mountain Tanagers, together with Streak-capped Spinetails, Yellow-crowned Redstart and Montane Woodcreeper. We had a fantastic look at a group of six Santa Marta Parakeets feeding on a fruiting tree just by the roadside, and also found Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant, Mountain Elaenia, two Southern (Santa Marta) Emerald-Toucanets, a Black Flowerpiercer and even a close-up Santa Marta Antpitta. What a morning! 

Back at the lodge for lunch and an afternoon break, we had plenty of time to enjoy the garden and the feeders. During a short evening walk from the lodge, we observed a close Gray-throated Leaftosser actually tossing leaves, also found two Groove-billed (Yellow-billed) Toucanets, a Black-hooded Thrush, and after several attempts, we finally all had great views of Santa Marta Tapaculo!

We spent our second morning at El Dorado, birding the “road” between the lodge and the San Lorenzo biological station. Beside the species already contacted the previous day, we had excellent views of a pair of Hermit Wood-Wren (a recent split from Gray-breasted), a Brown-rumped Tapaculo, a Black-throated Tody-Tyrant, Golden Grosbeak, Black-capped Tyrannulet and a Golden-olive Woodpecker. A Barred Forest-Falcon that was singing in the forest came straight towards us in response to the tape, and we also saw a White-rumped Hawk soaring overhead! 

After a lunch at the lodge, enjoying the fantastic view, we had a productive afternoon walk in the forest, starting with prolonged close views of Masked Trogons, followed by an excellent sighting of the uncommon Spotted Barbtail, and Black-banded and Strong-billed Woodcreepers seen almost side-by-side, as well as two Sickle-winged Guans and two Band-tailed Guans! We stayed on the road until dusk, waiting for owls, but after a long effort we only heard (four!) Santa Marta Screech-Owls.

 After such a lovely time here, it was hard to leave Mountain House lodge, so we lingered on the terrace after breakfast to enjoy great views of Red-billed Parrots, a Scaled Pigeon, two Masked Tityra, a large group of Black-chested Jay plus all the usual visitors at the feeders. Walking down from the lodge, we found a pair of Montane Foliage-gleaners, a tiny Santa Marta Woodstar perched high atop a tree, and two Golden-breasted Flycatchers. Continuing on our way down towards Minca we also found a few new ones such as Gartered Trogon, Zone-tailed Hawk, Acadian Flycatcher, Lesser Elaenia, Dull-colored Grassquit, Sepia-capped Flycatcher and obviously enjoyed the trees filled with North-American migrants and flocks of tanagers! After lunch near Minca, we headed towards Isla Salamanca NP, were we stayed just long enough to find four of the lovely Pied Puffbirds, a pair of Bicolored Conebills, a Black-collared Hawk, two Green Herons and a perched Green Kingfisher.

And with that fantastic tour concluded the same way it began, with a fabulous dinner at a great Caribbean restaurant near our hotel!

- Fabrice Schmitt

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